Australian Gold Star 1969

Alec Mildren now had two cars bearing his own name: a spaceframe car built by Bob Britton to a Rennmax pattern and a monocoque car designed by Len Bailey and built in England. The latter car was called the Mildren 'Mono' but better known as the 'Yellow Submarine'. The original plan had been to use the Alfa V8s from the Brabham BT23D but local engine builder Merv Waggott built a 4-valve Ford-based engine for ANF2 and the Mildren team used 1900cc and 2000cc versions of this engine with great success.

With the Scuderia Veloce Brabham BT23A-Repco now retired and Mildren's BT23D pushed into a corner, only Bob Jane's BT23E-Repco and Leo Geoghegan's evergreen Lotus 39-Repco remained of the traditional 2.5-litre competition. Mildren lead driver Kevin Bartlett retained his title quite comfortably from Geoghegan and Bartlett's teammate, rising star Max Stewart, in third. Niel Allen's F2 McLaren M4A proved very effective with its Cosworth FVA engine which was at the time eligible for ANF2.

Australian racing was locked into an abrasive debate over whether to move to a 2-litre formula based on the forthcoming European F2 or to move to Formula 5000. For now, they would continue with the 2.5-litre formula but a decision was needed as grids continued to decline.

Australian Gold Star seasons(Tasman 2.5-litre Formula)

1969 Australian formulae

ANF = 2.5-litre racing engines (Tasman)

ANF2 = 1600cc racing engines (F2)

ANF3 = 1100cc production-based engines

The research

The 1964 to 1970 Australian results have been compiled by David McKinney from a wide range of sources, including his own magazine articles and books. David Shaw's meticulous research into this series, presented at http://members.optusnet.com.au/dandsshaw/ (now offline), was unfortunately conducted at the very same time David McKinney was doing his but proved a very useful second opinion.